Yukl and Tracey's Influencers

Choosing the Most Appropriate Approach to Influence

"Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another."– Napoleon Hill, American writer and businessman.

There are many ways that you can influence people. For instance, you can appeal to their deepest-held values and beliefs. You can influence them with logic and reason, and use facts to build your case. You could even just do favors for them.

In this article, we'll look at 11 positive and negative ways of influencing others. When you understand these, you can use the positive approaches, and you can avoid the negative ones. You'll also know when someone's using the negative approaches on you.

About the 11 Influencers

Leadership scholars Gary Yukl and J. Bruce Tracey studied influence in the workplace for more than a decade. They identified 11 different techniques, or "influencers," that people commonly use at work. Yukl highlighted these in his respected 1981 book, "Leadership in Organizations."

These 11 influencers are as follows, classified into positive and negative tactics:

1. Rational Persuasion

For example, imagine that you've just pitched a new product idea to the rest of the management team. You can see that Pat, a key decision-maker, isn't sold on your suggestion. So, you use facts and statistics from your research to explain how this new product will open up a new market for your organization.

Rational persuasion is most effective when you use it with someone who shares your objectives.

To use this influence technique, use good information-gathering strategies, and make sure that your facts, statistics, and theories are accurate, well thought through, and relevant.

Also, brainstorm possible objections ahead of time, so that you have the information you need to address them, if they arise.

2. Apprising

With apprising, you explain how your request, idea, or proposal will benefit the other person. However, the person doesn't benefit directly from the project itself – the benefits come as a result of that person's involvement or support.

For instance, imagine that one of your team members, Susan, is reluctant to join a risky new project. However, you really need her expertise for the project to succeed, and you know that she wants to get a promotion. You explain that, if the team succeeds, all of you will get to make a presentation to the executive board. This would spotlight her contribution, and could lead to a promotion down the road.

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This technique is especially useful with people who care more about their own needs than they do about their team or organization.

3. Inspirational Appeal

You use this tactic when you appeal to another person's emotions, values, hopes, and ideals. Inspirational appeal helps you forge a strong emotional tie between the person and the project. This can be a powerful motivator.

For instance, let's say that your organization has just moved its head office to a new community, and you've decided to sponsor an environmental clean-up day. To gain buy-in from your team members, who will be the chief volunteers, you explain how their efforts will beautify the environment for everyone in the community, and how they'll make things safer and healthier for local children and wildlife. For many of your people, this will provide a powerful inspiration.

To use this approach, learn what motivates your people, and the values that they care about most – tools such as McClelland's Human Motivation Theory and Herzberg's Motivators and Hygiene Factors can help with this. If you're using this tactic to influence team members, think too about the values that you looked for when you hired them. Then, tailor your requests to appeal to these, and to their goals, hopes, and dreams.

As part of this, you can use business storytelling to create a strong emotional tie between your audience and your message.

4. Consultation

When you use this approach, you ask people to help you plan how to achieve your goal.

For example, imagine that you want to develop a more effective system to manage your department's sales pipeline. It's a huge project, and you know that it won't be successful unless you get support from everyone in your team. So, you ask team members to help you develop a solution.

This influence tactic is especially useful when you're in charge of a change initiative, and you need help from people to carry out a particular task or project. (Use tools such as Hartnett's CODM Model to come up with a solution as a group.)

This tactic isn't effective when people don't have the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to achieve the objective, or when what you want them to do clashes with other important objectives that they have.

5. Exchange

This technique, which is based on reciprocity, involves rewarding others for their help or involvement with a request. This could be a reward of resources or information, help and support on another project or task, or something tangible (such as additional compensation or benefits).

For example, imagine that you have a report due by the end of the day, and you won't finish it on time without assistance. You ask your colleague, Gerard, to help you compile the data. There's no real benefit to Gerard if he assists you – this will even put him behind on his own work. However, you know that Gerard wants to spend more time with his family, so you offer to help him finish his next report early, so that he can take an extra day off later in the month.

This tactic is appropriate when you have a request that offers no obvious benefits to others, yet will cost them a considerable amount of time, stress, or inconvenience.

6. Collaboration

With collaboration, you make it easier for the other person to get involved, or to approve your request.

For example, let's say that you want a client to attend a meeting with your team, but she's reluctant to participate because she's busy and she has a long way to travel. So, you arrange for your team to visit her at her office instead. That way, she only has to take a small amount of time out of her schedule to join the meeting.

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Collaboration might seem similar to the exchange tactic because, with both, you offer to do something for others.

The key difference is that with exchange, you offer something to others, while with collaboration, you make it easier for others.

Negative Tactics

When you use negative approaches to influence, you can strain your relationships, hurt others, and damage your reputation.

It's also important to know about these negative techniques, so that you can tell when others are using them on you.

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7. Legitimation

People use legitimation tactics when they attempt to establish their authority, or their right to request something from you. They might also try to prove that their request is consistent with organizational policies, rules, or practices.

People often use this technique with unreasonable requests, or when they're unfamiliar with how much authority the person they want to influence has.

This tactic is linked to the idea of legitimate power. Therefore, it may be appropriate to use it if other more positive forms of influence have failed.

8. Coalition

This is when someone uses other people to influence you, such as your boss, clients, colleagues, or team members – essentially, they try to "gang up" with others to push you into doing something.

The influencer might ask others to influence you directly. However, he might also simply use other people's endorsement or opinions to sway your decision.

9. Pressure

People use pressure tactics when they threaten you or act aggressively. They might make repeated demands for you to change your mind, even after you say "no." Or, they may try to take away some of your power, or discredit you.

Pressure tactics often go along with bullying, and will likely leave you feeling stressed, upset, resentful, and angry.

10. Ingratiation

With ingratiation, others try to make you feel better about yourself before they make a request. For example, they might praise you, or do you a favor, before they ask for your assistance.

This can turn into manipulation when the praise or flattery is insincere, or when people do favors so that they receive something in return, later down the line, without being honest about their intentions.

11. Personal Appeals

People make personal appeals when they ask you to do things because of friendship, loyalty, kindness, or generosity.

This influence tactic can make you feel that someone has manipulated you, or that they've taken advantage of you.

Key Points

Leadership scholars Gary Yukl and J. Bruce Tracey identified 11 influence tactics that people commonly use in the workplace. Yukl outlined these in his book, "Leadership in Organizations."

The six positive influencers are:

Rational persuasion.

Apprising.

Inspirational appeal.

Consultation.

Exchange.

Collaboration.

The five negative influencers are:

Legitimation.

Coalition.

Pressure.

Ingratiation.

Personal appeals.

It's helpful to understand these tactics, so you can choose the right one to use when you need to influence others.

It's also useful to understand negative influence tactics, so that you can avoid using them, and so that you can recognize when someone is using them on you.